1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a keyboard apparatus and to the identifying symbology used with key tops whereby automatic key top insertion is enabled through the utilization of contrasting colors and automatic reading of bar code indicia signifying the specific alphanumeric symbology for this specific key top.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In keyboard production generally, the key tops are manually assembled to the keys using visual orientation and relatively large numbers of operators to produce the complete keyboard. As production volumes increase, the cost of this very simple operation becomes prohibitive. Since an operator required a large work orientation for placing the key tops on keys whereas as many as 120 keys are involved, the opportunity for error that a key will be placed in the wrong location increases exponentially.
Two basic requirements immediately present themselves.
1. Uniformly orienting the key tops so that an operator knows or can quickly determine which side, top, bottom or edge is to be handled first, etc., for placement upon the key stem with which the key top is to be associated. PA1 2. Identifying the key top so that the operator places an A where it belongs and a B where it belongs etc., without the accidential mixup of key tops relative to the specific key stems.
Presently these operations as performed by hand, are time consuming and very prone to error. Solving the first problem can be accomplished by means, of a character code to interpret the letter, symbol, number or indicia on the key top. However, because of the differences in characters, differences in languages, symbols, indicia, and etc., this is not the most practical method of reading the letter or symbol since different key tops often have the same letter but in different formats or synbology or are located in different places depending on keyboard layouts.